Branches
by EmmaMary
Summary: Chuck always longed for a family and when he was seventeen he got some semblance of one, but what happens now when four new members are added to that family? Rufus and Blair help him figure it out.


**Fandom:** Gossip Girl

**Title:** Branches

**Characters**: Lily/Chuck (motherly), Rufus/Chuck (fatherly), Blair/Chuck (romantically)

**Summary:** Chuck always longed for a family and when he was seventeen he got some semblance of one, but what happens now when four new members are added to that family? Rufus and Blair help him figure it out.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** So this is the first thing I've written in a year, boy I forgot how cathartic writing, even fanfiction, can be. I would love it if you would let me know what is good or bad!

This takes place during "Rufus Getting Married" and was inspired by this picture: .com/albums/j158/wigbee71583/?action=view¤t;=

* * *

"I love you," Lily whispers back to her daughter while taking Serena's hand and following to where her new husband is standing.

She feel physically warm from the amount of love surrounding her in this moment, She is sure that she has never been so happy in her entire life. She looks around at the glowing faces of her family, illuminated softly by the delicately hung twinkle lights around the room. She knows now that she has been fighting for this feeling her entire life. All of her marriages, her divorces, were a desperate struggle to find happiness like this. She wants to feel this way forever, and she knows that as long as she has this family, her family, she will.

She wants to remember this moment, memorialize it and the feelings that go along with it. She wants to blow up this moment and hang it above her fireplace, discarding whatever priceless piece of art she already has nailed there. She looks around in search of the photographer Serena hired, and sees him standing by the side of the room, flicking through the pictures on his camera of the beautiful ceremony that ended just moments before.

"Excuse me, sir?" she calls out.

The plump, balding man looks up and returns her smile.

"I would like a picture of my whole family, if you don't mind" she beams as he moves toward her.

"Of course! Of course!" he nods his head quickly, shuffling over to her. He points to an area by a bouquet of orange flowers. "How about there?"

"Perfect!" Lily responds, clapping her hands together in excitement. She turns from the photographer to the sound of joyous laughter in the center of the room. "Come on everyone! I want a family portrait!"

She waves them over to the designated spot with a graceful wave of her hand. Serena, Dan, Eric, and Jenny immediately bustle over to the spot. Rufus, who is standing with his long lost son, guides him over with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Scott's shy eyes find Lily's and she smiles at him. They are all clustered near the flowers, trying to figure out how to position themselves.

"Mom, Dad," the photographer calls out as he kicks two square ottomans toward them like soccer balls, "sit!"

Lily and Rufus obey and take their seats. With this one small suggestion all the kids seems to know what to do, and Lily feels her children fill in behind her. Scott places a hand on her shoulder and she reaches up and gently grasps his hand for a moment in a maternal gesture, before placing her hands on her lap.

She looks up to where the photographer is standing, ready to take the picture, and notices that one of her sons has not joined them for the family portrait.

With the commotion of the large family trying to fit into place she has not noticed that Chuck has remained standing between Nate and Blair, who has a cheerless look on her face, as he stares intently at his shoes.

A heartbreaking sensation washes over her. It is not because she has forgotten a member of her family, moments before she honestly thought he was standing amongst them, but because Chuck obviously does not feel as much a part of her family as she considers him to be. She opens her mouth to call him over, but instead of her soft, feminine voice calling out his name, she hears a rough, manly one instead.

"Chuck!" Rufus beckons cheerfully. "What are you doing all the way over there? Come on get in the picture!"

Chuck looks shyly to Blair before anyone else. She nods with a sweet smile on her face and squeezes his hand.

"Oh!" the joyful photographer laughs, "We wouldn't want to forget anybody! Go, stand beside the boy in blue."

Chuck quickly moves over to take his place next to Scott, continuing to look at his shoes as he does so. Now, however, it is not to shelter himself from uncertainty, but to hide the wide smiling growing on his face.

Later, when Lily receives the wedding photos, she will be shocked that the smile on Chuck's face is bigger than any she has ever seen him display. She will have to wipe her eyes with a Kleenex before moving on to the next photograph.

* * *

Later that night, while Chuck places his and Blair's empty cake plates into the loft's shallow sink, a hand encircles his shoulders, clenching it quickly before letting go. Chuck looks up to find a beaming Rufus before him.

"Congratulations, Rufus," Chuck says sincerely. "You and Lily are truly sole mates."

He never really believed Lily and Bart could have been happy anyway, even if he had never been in the accident. Chuck knew Rufus was the best match for Lily, and when you cared about someone you wanted him or her to be happy. He was an expert on this emotion.

Rufus hopes that the honesty he senses in Chuck's voice is pure, he shows him a smile in response.

"Listen, Chuck," Rufus begins cautiously. "I know you're a grown man, and that you don't live with Lily anymore, and well…" he stops and lets out a nervous laugh, "you basically run one of the biggest private corporations in New York City."

"The largest, we topped Trump just after Lily and Bart got married," Chuck corrects him with a satisfied grin.

Rufus forces a smile, but the mention of Bart leaves a bad feeling in his stomach.

"Anyway," Rufus continues, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you, if you ever need me. You're Lily's son, and now that we're married I consider you my son too."

Rufus finishes his sentence quickly, and prays that Chuck will not take his declaration as offensive; he knew just how unpredictable Chuck Bass could be.

The air between them is quiet for a moment, and Rufus finds himself holding his breath. Finally Chuck speaks.

"So you want to be like, my father?" Chuck says in a monotone voice.

"No, well, yes" Rufus stumbles. He takes a deep breath, and continues on. "Your father will always be your father, Chuck."

"Listen, Rufus," Chuck interrupts. "I never had a father, not one that was involved in my life anyway, so I don't really see why I would need one now."

Chuck's words are harsh, and sting Rufus, but they are not malicious or angry. Rufus can tell Chuck is simply stating something he believes to be true. As Chuck begins to turn away, Rufus grabs his arm, keeping him planted on the spot.

Ever since Bart's death, and Rufus and Lily's following reconciliation, Rufus had been thinking about the boy Lily had adopted. He saw a young, desperate, troubled man, who had never been nurtured like Rufus's own children. He saw someone who used anger, deceit, booze, and woman to cover up a lifetime of loneliness. Sure, it had gotten better since the previous summer, since Chuck told Blair he loved her (he overheard Serena telling to 'romantic' story to Lily the day after), but Rufus couldn't help but be concerned that Chuck had no one to guide him. In Rufus's mind it was simple, Chuck was a part of his family now, and he refused to abandon him.

"Believe me when I say it is never too late to start having people around who care about you."

Chuck laughs, for a man Rufus sure did have a flair for dramatics.

"If you really knew me, you wouldn't care. My father knew me better than anyone, and he didn't."

Rufus's heart breaks for this man, this _boy_, standing before him. Rufus is a father before anything else, and he is proud of it. To him this fact doesn't change whether he is talking about his biological children, his step-children, or the boy his wife adopted after her husband of less than a year died because it was the only way to keep his multi-billion dollar company out of the hands of a scum-bag. In this case, the journey didn't matter, but where they had all ended up, as a family, was the important part.

"Look around Chuck, there are plenty of people here who know the real you and still care. I would even venture to say that the person who knows you better than anyone cares the most."

Chuck's eyes immediately find Blair, talking to Serena and Jenny with a bright smile on her face. He doesn't know why but he is slightly shocked the Rufus knows enough about him to know how much Blair means to him.

When Chuck looks at Blair Rufus can tell he has hit a soft spot. He gains a sense of confidence and continues his spiel.

"I'm just saying that you are now a part of my family, whether you like it or not. Now if you want I'm willing to treat you like I would treat Dan or Jenny. To tell you when I think you're being a complete dumb ass, and to yell at you when you screw up. But that also comes with being there if you need me. Trust me, I know a little bit about business, a lot about life…"

To Chuck, he sounds like a salesman, but a good one.

"…and a hell of a lot about love."

Chuck eyes find Blair's once again.

"My father never cared enough to yell," Chuck speaks at the cabinets.

"Oh, I'm a very experienced yeller." Rufus jokes. "Of course you're an adult, and you can make your own decisions. I just wanted you to know, you're a part of this family now, and while it is completely up to you how involved you are, both Lily and I would love to have you in our lives as much as possible. I'm willing to be your father or your friend, preferably both."

Chuck opens his mouth to say something, but before he can make a sound Lily's voice calls out to Rufus, summoning to the other side of the room.

Rufus throws Chuck one last smile before walking away.

* * *

"Hey you," Blair coos as she crawls under the dark gray comforter, propping herself up on several pillows to make herself eye level with Chuck. Her cold, tiny feet bump against his legs.

"Hey. Did you enjoy the wedding?" he asks her, discarding the book he was reading onto the ground.

"It wasn't exactly as grand as I would have hopped, but it was pretty."

Chuck laughs. She snuggles closer to him.

"So I saw you and Rufus talking. Anything interesting?"

Chuck pauses, gazing at his hands. Blair follows his gaze and quickly grasps his hand. This seems to break Chuck from his thoughts and he looks back into Blair's eyes.

"He was just being Rufus." Chuck states simply.

"What does that mean?" she asks. She saw the look in Chuck's eyes during his conversation with Rufus, and she knows something important happened. She can read him like a book.

Chuck averts his eyes back their intertwined hands, but continues to talk.

"It means that he dramatically told me that he considered me a part of his family now, like his adopted step-step son."

"And what does that mean?" she pushes, softly.

"It means that he wants to be the father figure in my life. You know, scold me, encourage me, give me advice," Chuck laughs.

"Wow, that's really…"

"Ridiculous," Chuck tries to finish for her.

"I was going to say great," Blair corrects.

"What?" Chuck says, dropping her hand. He looks at Blair. "I thought you would laugh and make fun of him with me."

"Chuck," she says softly, "look I may not approve of where he chose to spend the majority of his adult life, or his career, or those horrible plaid shirts, or that ridiculous scruff, I mean really, how does Lily even stand to…"

"Blair," Chuck stops her, trying to put her back on track.

"Anyway," she continues, shaking her head as her drooping locks dance around her shoulder, "the one thing you can't argue with is that Rufus Humphrey is an amazing father."

"You hate Dan and Jenny," Chuck says, shocked and confused.

"Sure, but only because they're too good, and from Brooklyn, but now that they're Serena's siblings, and _your _siblings," she added, "I have to like them."

"Whatever you say Blair," Chuck rolls his eyes at her logic.

"Anyway, I'm just saying that maybe getting to know Rufus isn't such a bad idea. I mean I know how ecstatic you were when your dad married Lily, because you got Serena and Eric as your siblings, and Lily as a mom, and you were so happy to have a family. Then…"

"I never said that," Chuck defends.

She ignores his protests.

"I know you thought when your dad died you had lost the only family you had ever had, and when Lily adopted you it was just for the sake of the company, but she began to actually include you in her life, and you loved it. Even now that you've moved out she invites you over to dinner or out to lunch and I know how much you look forward to being with all of them."

"Blair…" Chuck tries to stop her.

She knows she is walking on egg shells, but he needs to learn that being honest with one another was part of being in a relationship, and if she didn't understand him, who on earth would?

"Chuck! You need to realize I know you better than anyone," Blair demands. "You still call Eric brother and Serena 'sis' all the time!"

She takes his hand once again.

"It's okay to want to be a part of a family Chuck, and now you have an ever bigger one. Just because Rufus, Dan, and Jenny are a part of Lily's family now, doesn't mean you aren't. Plus you now have a father now who will be there for you like yours never was. I know you're already an adult, but that doesn't mean you have everything figured out, and maybe Rufus can help you."

She is the only person in the world Chuck would allow to make a statement like that, and she knows it.

"You're all the family I need." He replies, pressing his forehead against hers.

She smiles broadly, lightly pressing her lips to his.

"But whoever will you go to when you need advice on how to plan romantic dates with me, or how to win me back after you royally screw up?" She whispers, teasingly.

"I'm not going to screw up with you."

His comment wipes the smile from her face, but her heart beats faster.

"Chuck," she says strongly, "Rufus Humphrey is a good man, everybody needs a little bit of support every now and then. Everyone needs a family."

She locks her lips with his.

Later that night as Chuck lays in bed watching Blair sleep, he smiles. He has brothers, sisters, a girlfriend, a mother, and a father. Sure, none of them are related to him by blood and there are constant strings of "step" to be added to each title, but after eighteen years alone, he supposes he couldn't ask for a better family.

* * *

_**AN**- So I hoped you liked it! Let me know any of your thoughts, constructive criticism is welcome._

_I know I'm probably going to get some "Blair is very out of character comments", and honestly, I know. I really do believe though that even though Blair can be very insensitive and bitchy, when it really counts, like when it comes to Chuck, she can be a little more intuitive and sensitive. I was channeling more of the Blair from 2.13 and 2.14. Plus I think she used to be much more intelligent and less annoying (although still fierce) than she is being written like this season._

_I really feel that Rufus would act this way, and I hope you guys do too!_

_Please review! Six hours from now I will be coming back from work, and since I'm a tour guide at my school I have to work mostly out in the rain today, so I would love it if I came back and I had some lovely comments to read!_


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